On Tuesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the bloc was getting prepared for a potential cessation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, but it didn't want a new arms race and did not plan to deploy new ground-based missiles in Europe.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is speaking at a press conference in Brussels during the first day of the meeting between the defence ministers of the NATO member states.

The event comes after earlier in February, the United States said it was suspending its obligations under the INF Treaty starting from 2 February and would begin the withdrawal process, which would be completed within six months unless Moscow remedied its alleged violations of the bilateral arms control deal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin later announced that Moscow was also suspending its obligations under the treaty in response to the US move.